A Rose by Any Other Name
by TheTwistOfFate
Summary: Marley and Ryder were the perfect couple. That is, until Ryder turned out to be a villain in a dark blue blazer and then Marley transformed into one of the hottest Cheerios in school. This can only result in one thing - the reawakening of a terrifyingly vicious feud and the twisted love story of Romeo and Juliet.
1. 1 Month Before

HELLO. Happy December!

The holidays are so close, and I'm super super excited for the fresh batch of Christmas-themed one shots that are coming our way.

Anyway, this is the first fanfic on this account, and I really hope I'm not a stupid lazy butt this time and I'll really, REALLY try to actually update on a daily basis.

Okay, so this is a hardcore Ryley fanfic. So if you're a Jarley shipper, please do NOT leave horrifylingly rude comments about how much you hate Ryley, okay? No one cares.

Just kidding, but seriously.

There will probably be Jarley friendship though, because friendship is awesome. This takes place in Marley and Ryder's sophomore year, so the originals like Tina and Artie are still here. Also, at the beginning of this story, Jake isn't in the New Directions yet, so Lauren Zizes is in his place instead, just to avoid any confusion.

Btw, this is a prologue.

I apologize if this chapter turns out to be a super crappy introduction.

And now it is time for the unnecessary disclaimer: I OBVIOUSLY do not own Glee or any of its characters or the actors or any of the songs used in this fanfic. Sadly. :(

Okay, ENJOY! *nervously laughs*

* * *

_One month before._

"Ryder?" Marley ran through the halls of Dalton Academy, checking every classroom and closet in sight, "Ryder!" she called out anxiously.

She didn't understand how her boyfriend could just disappear so suddenly. They had been talking to each other only moments ago. She worried that he had been kidnapped, or had gotten run over by a car. Or even worse, was now being held hostage by Hunter, Sebastian, and the Warblers.

The William McKinley High New Directions were on after the next choir performance and they couldn't even find one of their best voices. _Great_, Marley thought to herself, _just great_.

She sadly returned to the other members of New Directions, who were preparing in the green room of Dalton's enormous auditorium.

"I've looked everywhere, Ryder's nowhere to be found." Marley announced.

"No shit, Sherlock," Kitty deprecated rudely, "we figured that out around ten minutes ago when had had all been searching crazy for him."

"Kitty, shut up." Unique replied to the blonde as she adjusted the wig on her head.

Finn and Mr. Schue walked into the green room, "Guys, I just spoke to the judges. Since the Show Choir competition rule book states that each show choir group is required to have 12 members in order compete, and we only have 11 without Ryder, we're going to have to be disqualified." The history teacher sighed, "I'm sorry, guys."

Everyone stared at Finn and Mr. Schue, wide-eyed.

"_What_?!"

"I can't believe Ryder would do this to us! He was my bro!" Sam exclaimed solemnly.

"Ugh! I'm gonna kill him!" Tina declared, "I'm a senior, and this year was supposed to be my last chance to be in the spotlight, and now we're going to be disqualified during _Sectionals_?! This is SO unfair!"

Artie raised his hands, "Preach."

"Hey, the first-years have it bad too," Kitty said with an annoyed tone, "this was supposed to be our first Sectionals, and now, thanks to Mister Creepy Frankenteen, I'm going to have to wait a whole year before I even get to step foot on that stage!"

"I think the crazy evil alien unicorns that Lord Tubbington drug-dealed with took him." Brittany hypothesized.

"If Ryder doesn't show up soon and we're disqualified, this will be the first time the New Directions have ever lost Sectionals," Blaine worriedly informed the others.

Marley panicked. Was this her fault? Did Ryder ditch them because he was tired of her? He _had_ been acting distant lately, but the brunette had assumed it was just nerves.

"Guys," Finn said, "I know this is bad-"

"Worse than bad." Artie interrupted.

"Yeah, this is one big-ass hell of a mess." Kitty agreed.

Finn rolled his eyes, "Yes, I know this is one 'big-ass hell of a mess', but don't lose hope, okay? Everything is gonna turn out fine. It always does."

Tina raised her hand, "As heartwarming and inspiring your words are, everything is not 'gonna turn out fine'. Blaine, Brittany, Artie, Sam, and I have all missed our last shot at this. Blaine now doesn't have an extra accomplishment to add to his application to NYADA, therefore, he loses his chance to be with Kurt. We all already know that there is no way in hell that Brittany or Sam will be attending college, but if they happen to so-miraculously do, they won't have an extra cred for their resumes. Or, Brittany will become a crazy cat-lady who sings Britney Spears hits at the local bar for a living, and Sam will again become the stripping extravaganza known as White Chocolate. Artie will lose his position as the role model for all handicapped kids in the nation. Unique doesn't get to show up Vocal Adrenaline for turning her into a nervous drag-queen wreck. Kitty will be an even bigger bitch for the rest of the year. Sugar and Joe don't get to redeem themselves from being the two lonely juniors who usually just sway in the background because Sugar is a terrifyingly horrible singer and Joe is just plain weird. Zizes gets to relive horrible show choir failure like she did two years ago at Nationals in New York. Marley loses her one true love. God, that must really suck for her. As for me, Rachel Barbra Berry told me herself that this year was going to be my time to shine, and now I simply won't have my time to shine! What happened to MY happy ending?! So no, Finn Hudson, everything is NOT gonna 'turn out fine' because Ryder pretty much just royally ruined and destroyed all of our lives!"

There were shouts of agreements.

Marley looked down at her hands. Had she really just lost her "one true love"?

"Hey, don't be so hard on Ryder," Finn demanded. He had a soft spot for Ryder and considered him as a younger version of himself, "For all we know, he may show up a minute before the performance. There are plenty of explanations for his absence - parents, bathroom-"

"-the mutant unicorn invasion," Brittany added matter of factly.

Everyone facepalmed as Finn reluctantly answered, "Uh yeah, sure, Brittany."

* * *

"Please welcome to the stage, our own Dalton Academy Warblers!" The announcer's deep voice boomed through the green room.

The members of New Directions all gave each other wide-eyed expressions before running to the stage wing to watch the Warblers.

Marley observed them worriedly. If Ryder didn't show up by time the Warblers were finished, the Warblers were going to be moving on to Regionals for sure. The Rosedale Mennonites were no match for them.

Everything seemed perfectly normal at first. Hunter and Sebastian led the rest of the Warblers onto the stage. They were all dressed in their usual uniforms, fitted-navy blue blazers with red trimming and the grey trousers. Marley could literally smell the scent of expensive, high-quality hair gel lingering around the stage.

Once the Warblers got through the first two songs in their set list, every member of the New Directions had lost hope.

Ryder wasn't coming.

The Warblers transitioned into "Mirrors". One of the members stepped up to the front of the stage to begin his solo.

And that's when every single member of the McKinley High New Directions gasped in utter horror.

Why?

Because Ryder Lynn was a Warbler.

* * *

OMG. I so did not see that coming.

Okay, well, you probably did, for I am the master of foreshadowing. *slowly retreats back into the shadows*


	2. Present Day

Hey guys! I'm back with another chapter!

I am deeply sorry if this chapter sucks. I always create these huge, amazing story lines in my head when I'm at school or bored during a long car ride, only to find that my ideas are just super weird and unrealistic, once I type them up.

Did you guys watch the new Glee last night? Kitty frickin killed it as Virgin Mary. My favorite part was probably when the innocent children of New York sat on Santana Claus' lap and told her what they wanted for Christmas. Only to have their dreams crushed by her. I love you, Santana Lopez.

I hope we get to see some Ryley soon! FINGERS CROSSED.

And now, prepare yourself for an extremely short chapter, because we all know stories take longer to type than to read. WHYYYYYYYYY

* * *

_Present day._

"So, which of these Lima Losers should we send to Slushie-ville today?" Bree mock-questioned in a grossly sweet tone.

Marley and Bree were walking down the uncleaned hallways of McKinley High School, with a herd of exactly three football players decked out in their signature letterman jackets following closely behind. Each dim-witted blank-faced player was holding a tall-jumbo sized cherry slushie, recently purchased from the convenient store near Lima Heights Adjacent.

Marley smirked as she held onto the straps of her red and white Cheerios backpack. She studied the options.

Naturally, everyone, except for any cheerleaders or jocks, was nervous when they saw the two most popular, yet bitchiest Cheerios in school walk down the hall with slushies ready. Everyone was a victim.

Yes. Marley Rose was now a Cheerio.

Most of the people just tried to ignore them. Don't bother a Cheerio, and she won't bother you. Unless you're a total nerd or a Glee club member. It was the McKinley Cheerio Law.

Marley spotted a couple innocently kissing by the lockers.

They weren't having a full-blown makeout session, with the touching and everything. They weren't even using tongue. It was totally innocent kissing.

Never the less, it still disgusted Marley.

She and Ryder had been like that.

_Marley was at her locker, unloading her books, when she felt a pair of arms suddenly snake around her from behind, engulfing her in a warm hug. She smiled to herself as she immediately recognized who it was. She turned around, "Hey, Ryder." She gave him a small peck on the lips. _

_He grinned happily, "Mm, that was nice. Can I have another one?"_

_Marley rolled her eyes, "No, not yet. What's up? I thought you had football practice today."_

_"Yup. Well, I did. But I wanted to give you this first," he handed her a small black box. Marley's ocean-blue eyes brightened with surprise._

_"You're not proposing, are you?" Marley mildly joked as she took the small box into her hands. _

_Ryder chuckled slightly, "No, it's a Valentines Day gift."_

_Marley raised an eyebrow as she opened the box._

_She quietly gasped. It was a necklace. It had a silver chain and a simple heart-pendant. _

_She smiled widely up at Ryder, "Oh my god! Ryder, you're awesome. Thank you." She quickly fastened the necklace around her neck and turned around to get something from her locker. She spun back around to face Ryder, "I got you something too." _

_She handed him a pair of brand new drumsticks that were held together by a piece of red ribbon. On the side of one of the sticks was Ryder's name, engraved into the wood in black capital letters. Engraved on the other drumstick was a small drawing of a drum set._

_Ryder examined the gift with an expression of pure joy, "Dude, these are so cool!"_

_"Don't call me 'dude'" Marley tried to scold him, but ended up smiling as she said it._

_"Yes, ma'am!" He saluted her, "I apologize, mi'lady." He booped her nose with the tip of his finger. Marley giggled as Ryder laughed quietly._

_Ryder took a look at his customized-drum sticks again, "So, mi'lady, may I ask how you got name on these?"_

_Marley smiled brightly, "I engraved them myself. I remember how you said that the drums were your favorite instrument and that you wished you had a drum set at home. And since I obviously could not buy you a drum set, I bought the drum sticks. And I know it's not much, but-"_

_Ryder kissed her._

_Marley immediately kissed back. _

_They were both smiling into the kiss, and it wasn't like one of those kisses where there was saliva everywhere. Marley rested her arms around Ryder's neck as he had one hand tangled in her long dark brown hair and the other comfortably placed on her waist. _

_"DYSLEXIC, BULIMIC, PLEASE KINDLY UN-ATTACH YOUR LIPS FROM EACH OTHER AND QUIT INNOCENTLY KISSING IN MY HALLWAYS. YOUR AMOUNT OF SEXUAL TENSION IS BOTH ANNOYING AND FRUSTRATING."_

_They were interrupted by none of than Coach Sylvester and her exceptionally loud megaphone._

Marley shook her head out of her day dream and pointed at the still kissing couple, "Those two." She smirked as the pair shouted out in shock as the ice-cold beverage hit them, humiliating them in front of everyone in the hallway.

Needless to say, that couple spent the rest of sixth period in the bathrooms, attempting to rinse out the sting of artificial cherry-flavoring out of their eyes.

* * *

Marley was stretching with the other Cheerios out on the football field when Kitty strutted up to her, "Boob-less, we need to talk." She kept a hand on her hip.

"For the record, we have the same bra size."

"Rejoin Glee club."

Marley raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms, "And why should I?"

"Okay, listen. I know you're still all sad and mopey that JB Wannabe turned out to be an evil Dalton prick."

Marley protested, "No, I'm not."

"Trust me, we all are. Well, I mean, I'm not. Obviously, my voice is way more superior than your quiet mousy-voice and Ryder's voice that sounds like he has a frog stuck at the back of his throat. _I_ don't think we need you two,"

Marley rolled her eyes.

"...but for some miraculous reason, the rest of the Glee club thinks so. And I will admit that you two are way better than the three new members we had to recruit from the band."

"Wait, what happened to Lauren?"

"Zizes threw a temper-tantrum about losing yet another choir competition. She even broke her glasses, it was horrifying. God bless her." She sighed for a moment, "Anyway, Finn's really sad about Ryder, and then you leaving Glee. Yesterday, he gave us an hour-long lecture on how he thought you and the Dalton D-bag were going to be the next Finchel."

Marley cast her eyes down so that the blonde wouldn't see how sad she really was.

"I totally saw that look. You _are_ sad that Ryder pulled a St. James on you. Look, you are doing a shockingly exceptional job at being a bitchy Cheerio. But as hilarious as that slushie-stunt you pulled on that gross couple by the lockers was, Glee club is where you belong." She paused, "By the way, the only reason why I'm trying to help you out is the fact that you've become slightly more bearable ever since you became a mean girl."

The brunette rolled her eyes again, "I appreciate it." She replied sarcastically, "But I'm not rejoining, sorry."

And with that, she walked away from Kitty.

* * *

She couldn't go back into the choir room.

Everything in there reminded her of Ryder. And she desperately did _not_ want to want to remember Ryder, despite the fact that she thought about him everyday.

_God, I'm obsessed, _Marley thought to herself solemnly, _I bet he doesn't think of me at all, anymore._

Marley needed some alone time to get her act together. She made her way to the auditorium.

But instead of finding the auditorium empty, as she had expected, she was greeted with a surprise.

* * *

And that was the annoying cliffhanger. Hoped you enjoyed this chapter!

And remember, there is a huge difference between constructive criticism and rude, spirit-crushing reviews.

Santana Claus is watching you.


	3. Since U Been Gone

Hi everyone! Sorry it took so long for me to update, I've been really busy with school.

Thanks for your kind reviews! You guys are awesome.

I don't want to bore you with some super long author's message, so here it goes.

* * *

Marley was shocked for a moment. Why would _they _voluntarily be here? She quickly plastered a devilish smirk on her face and made her way to the stage, her Cheerio ponytail swinging side to side with each step, "Hey, Whore-blers, what are you doing here?"

The Warblers all turned from their spots on the stage to face the brunette.

Marley gave Hunter an annoyed look as he gave her one of those ugly Cheshire cat-grins, "Rehearsing for Regionals. The same Regionals, in fact, that you _would've_ competed in if you hadn't been so ridiculously gullible."

Marley ignored his comment and mirrored his selfish behavior, "I thought you pricks couldn't stand the stench of public schools."

"That," Sebastian stepped forward, "is very true."

"Though we do not at all agree with the the Show Choir Competition board's decision to have Regionals at Lima's bad seed school, we needed to get a feel for your tiny auditorium in order to make it to Nationals, despite the fact that it smells like extreme mediocrity in here," Hunter explained haughtily, scrunching up his nose in mock-disgust.

Marley shrugged, "Well, if it makes you feel any better, I can't stand the stench of over-priced men's hair gel." Marley reached the edge of the stage, "At least Blaine's smells like raspberries."

"By the way, how _is _Blaine? I'd imagine after your horrible loss at Sectionals, he'd be all up for returning to Dalton," Hunter said, smirking.

Marley smiled sweetly, "I wouldn't know."

Both Hunter and Sebastian raised an eyebrow at the exactly same time. The timing was so exact, in fact, that Marley almost lost her sturdy expression and giggled.

"So you're not with your little Glee club anymore, is this because Ryder dumped your poor little naive heart?" Sebastian mock-pouted. He pulled Ryder, who had been lingering behind the other Warblers, desperately trying to avoid Marley seeing him, up next to him.

Ryder and Marley made eye contact.

Both of their arrogant expressions faltered for a mere second.

They hadn't seen each other since Sectionals, around ten minutes before Ryder had left them for the Warblers.

_"I'm nervous."_

_Ryder looked down at her, concerned. He cradled her right cheek with his left hand, "Marley, you're gonna kick ass out there. I know it."_

_She nodded a bit frantically, worry still etched onto her face._

_"Marley," Ryder tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, "Marley, you're going to do amazing. You look amazing. You sound amazing. This is going to be amazing."_

_Marley gave him a small smile, "Mm, the 3 Amazings. Very classy." _

_Ryder brightened up at her more light, joking tone, "You know how else I know you're going to be amazing? Coach Sylvester's inability to insult you. 'Absolutely stunning kind-faced blue-eyed girl', 'Ravishing Golden-throated raven haired beauty', that's all she's been able to come up with."_

_Marley laughed. It was music to Ryder's ears._

_"I know I'm going to be okay. I'm just worried that the Warblers are gonna beat us." Marley explained to him._

_Ryder felt the wave of guilt come crashing over him._

_"That-that doesn't matter. All that matters is that you sing your heart out, out on that stage, and that you enjoy yourself. You love to sing. We all love to sing. That's the only reason why we all joined Glee. Don't let the Warblers ruin that."_

_She nodded again, "I won't," she assured him. Then she asked, "Can we go out for ice cream, after this?"_

_Ryder laughed softly. Marley heard the slight hint of sadness in his voice, but decided to ignore it._

_Ryder just breathed in and held Marley's hands in his. He leaned into her so that his face was only centimeters from hers, "I love you, Marley."_

_"I love you too."_

But that had happened a long time ago. Things were different now.

Marley was no longer the nervous, shy girl she used to be. Ryder was no longer there for Marley to remind her of the "three amazings". Coach Sue had finally come up with a plentiful source of insulting names for Marley. Ryder and Marley no longer went out on ice cream dates. They no longer loved each other. Or so they thought.

"Nope, it's because last semester, I didn't _really_ realize the full extent of my pure amazing awesomeness. I can do better than that stupid Glee club," Marley said with a light tone as she smiled smugly.

Ryder was taken aback. He didn't even know that Marley could, or even knew, how to talk like that. The Marley he used to know would have cringed at the slightest comment of selfishness.

Though he did have to admit that Marley looked totally hot in her Cheerios uniform, he already missed her long, dark brown hair that would hang over her shoulders instead of her tight ponytail, and her hand-me-down sweaters and skirts and scarves instead of her flashy cheerleading uniform.

"I see _you've_ turned into a snobby bitch," Ryder forced himself to say with a smirk. Marley still thought he sounded so unlike himself when he said this. He was rarely mean. The only time Marley ever saw him diss someone was when Kitty used to tease her about her "weight gains", which turned out to be nonexistent.

But he was still _really _cute when he smirked.

_Damn his cuteness, _Marley thought as she frowned, before answering egotistically, "Just following in your footsteps."

"Oh, trust me. You'll never live up to the requirements of being a Warbler."

"Do one of those requirements include 'being a coward'? Because I know that you Dalton D-bags"- Marley stole Kitty's previous nickname for them - "_knew _that the New Directions were going to beat you, so instead, you idiots came up with a lame, cliche plan to get them disqualified, in fear of losing. If that doesn't say 'cowardly' to me, than I don't know what does."

"But who are the winners now? Either way, we always win. Your little diversity club will always just be a pack of losers."

Marley raised an eyebrow, "You mean, the 'little diversity club' that you had only been joyfully singing and dancing with a month ago? The 'pack of losers' that you had become BFFs with?"

"Open your eyes, sweetie. It was all an act. I can run circles around you and your Glee besties," Ryder taunted.

"The Glee geeks - maybe. But me - I'd like to see you try."

"Well then," Ryder shoved his hands into his pockets, "why don't we battle it right out here, on the stage?"

Marley raised her eyebrows, "You want to duel?"

"That is, if you're not afraid."

"Shut up." She stepped up onto the stage, "Boys, 'Since U Been Gone'," she requested.

The Warblers began starting the melody in aCapella. They all began to roam around the stage, surrounding the pair.

Marley walked towards Ryder as she began to sing.

{_Marley_, **Ryder**, _**Both**_}

_Here's the thing we started out friends  
It was cool but it was all pretend  
Yeah yeah  
Since U Been Gone_

Ryder pretended to be unimpressed as he sang back to her.

**You dedicated you took the time  
Wasn't long till I called you mine  
Yeah Yeah  
Since U Been Gone**

Marley felt her heart do a leap when he heard Ryder's voice. She hadn't heard him sing in a really long time.

_And all you'd ever hear me say_  
_Is how I pictured me with you_

Marley jabbed a manicured finger into Ryder's chest. Ryder briefly remembered when she had done the same during "You're the One that I Want" for Grease. That had been the very first time they sang together.

_That's all you'd ever hear me say_

_But Since U Been Gone_  
_I can breathe for the first time_  
_I'm so moving on_  
_Yeah, yeah_

Ryder had always been amazed at how Marley was able to hit high notes so flawlessly without sounding like a dying cat. He realized he had missed her voice.

_Thanks to you (_**Thanks to you)**  
_Now I get (_**Now I get**_)_  
**_What I want_  
_Since U Been Gone_**

And then there was that click they both felt when they sang that last short part together. That shock, the spark of electricity they felt when they heard their voices combine.**  
**

They had been inches away from each other after the chorus. They stared at each other for a moment before they both parted and sang to each other from a distance.

**How can I put it? You put me on**  
**I even fell for that stupid love song**  
**Yeah, yeah**  
**Since U Been Gone**_ (Since U Been Gone)_

**How come I'd never hear you say**  
_**I just wanna be with you**_  
**I guess you never felt that way**

They sang to each other as they followed one another around the stage. It was almost as if the Warblers weren't there, providing the music.

**_But Since U Been Gone  
I can breathe for the first time  
I'm so moving on  
Yeah, yeah_**

The atmosphere was beginning to get intense. For Marley, it was as if she was finally letting everything out. She didn't have to hold back her feelings anymore when she sang, and she didn't have to put up a front. Now that she thought about it, she realized that she hadn't sung in a really long time.

Of course, Ryder would be the one to make her feel like that. Like she was finally free. Too bad he was the wrong person to fall for.

**Thanks to you**  
**Now I get (I get) what I want**  
**Since U Been Gone**

Marley sang the next part to directly to Ryder, meaning every word she said to him.

_You had your chance you blew it_  
_Out of sight, out of mind_

Marley thought she saw a twinge of sadness and guilt in his eyes when she sang this.

To Ryder, every word she sang to him was like a dagger to the heart. Though, of course, he didn't show this.

_Shut your mouth I just can't take it_  
_Again and again and again__  
_

**And again**

Ryder sang the last "again" (which had been the climax of the song) at the top of his lungs.

_Since U been gone_

The song began to slow down as it came to an end.

**Since U been gone**

_Since U been gone_

**Since U been gone**

_**Since U been gone**_

They finished the song in perfect harmony.

Ryder wasn't really sure how it happened, but while they were singing, they must have been walking constantly closer to each other because now, they were again only inches apart from each other.

Ryder looked down to her. He had missed that tingly feeling her blue eyes gave him. She was so pretty, and he had missed her so much-

_Snap out of it, Ryder! _Ryder mentally scolded himself, _she means nothing to you._

Marley stared up into Ryder's brown eyes and saw an expression that surprised her.

Love.

Marley suddenly felt dismayed_. _The look had just disappeared.

His eyes were now ignited with the fire of malice. Marley forced a fierce glare on her face and backed away from him.

Ryder gave her a sly grin, "I won."

Ryder turned around and began his way towards Hunter, who was finding the scene in front of him very entertaining.

Marley followed him. She laughed, "No, you didn't. I totally kicked your ass."

Ryder's back was still to her. He stopped in front of Hunter.

Marley was instantly suspicious. She began to back away from Ryder, slowly.

"I doubt that's true. Now, tell me, Marley, do you like blue raspberry?"

"Holy shit, you better not-"

Ryder spun around.

It was all a blue blur to Marley. One second, she was facing Ryder's back, and the next, she had a face full of raspberry slushie.

She couldn't believe it. Ryder Lynn just slushied her. _Ryder Lynn just slushied her._

_I guess I should have seen it coming, _Marley thought solemnly to herself.

The slushie was cold, and freezing. Just like her current thoughts for Ryder.

Marley could've sworn she saw a spark of regret in Ryder's eyes after her vision had cleared of blue dye.

"HEY! What the hell?! That's my _girlfriend_!"

Everyone turned to the voice that had come from the entrance of the auditorium.

Marley's eyes widened with surprise.

_Jake._

* * *

So, now you guys know that both Marley and Ryder still have feelings for each other.

The song used in this chapter was obviously "Since U Been Gone" by Kelly Clarkson, but I think the Pitch Perfect version fits this better. If you haven't already, you should totally listen to the Pitch Perfect SOUNDTRACK VERSION of SUBG.

kay, byeeee!


	4. Realizations

Long chapter coming up!

This is technically a filler-chapter, it mostly explains Ryder and Marley's current feelings toward each other. Jake is in this chapter too, and I've tried my best to disclude sappy, fluffy Jarley moments while still having them maintain a realistic boyfriend-girlfriend relationship.

I'm sorry that nothing BIG has happened yet, but I think the next chapter will be slightly more eventful.

Did you guys see Lea on Ellen? I cried.

And now, the chapter.

* * *

"So that was your ex?"

Jake ripped a paper towel from the dispenser and handed it to Marley, before leaning with his back against the sink next to her, crossing his arms in the process.

Marley sighed, "Yeah, that was my ex," she murmured. She dampened the towel and began to wipe her face.

"And he slushied you?" Jake seemed incredulous.

"Yeah..." she trailed off.

"Damn, I've dumped my share of girlfriends before, but _never_ have _any_ of them attempted to throw a _beverage_ of any kind at me."

"It's nice how you're _so_ comfortable with talking about your past girlfriends with your CURRENT girlfriend," Marley remarked sarcastically. She really wasn't in the mood for Jake's "I-remember-when-I-was-a-badass" attitude.

"I remember the first time I slushied someone." Jake joked.

"I hate you."

"Just kidding, just kidding..." He gave her a kiss on the cheek.

Marley allowed herself to let out a small laugh. She began to wash her hair out in the sink. Luckily, the slushy had mostly just hit her face and had only stained her Cheerios uniform.

Jake Puckerman was William McKinley High School's resident bad-boy. Most people feared him either because they actually found him intimidating, or because they knew that he was Noah Puckerman's younger half-brother.

And just like any other stereotypical bad-boy, he had a soft side. He was actually a really nice guy once you got to know him, which Marley had figured out after they had went on their first date.

Marley still remembered the first time he actually talked to her as an equal, instead of a nerdy Glee loser.

_"Hey, you're Marley, right?"_

_Marley spun around, her high-pony almost slapping her in the face, to see Jake Puckerman, leather-jacket and all, making his way towards her._

_Her blue eyes widened. _Oh, dear God, no, _Marley thought frantically to herself. Ryder wasn't here to protect her anymore. What was she going to do? Would McKinley's bad boy really dare to slushy the co-captain of the Cheerios? _Of course he would, _Marley told her self, _I still have time to escape. Should I just excuse myself, or should I run away-

_"Uh, did you hear me?"_

_"Huh? What?" Marley shook her head out of her thoughts._

_Jake gave her a weird look before asking, "Wanna go out Friday night?"_

_"What?"_

_Jake shoved his hands into his pockets and rolled his eyes, "A date. You know, when a guy and a girl go out for a movie or whatever, and the guy pays, and then the guy drives the girl home at night and kisses her goodnight and possibly hooks up with her-"_

_"No, no, I know what a date is," she quickly assured him, "I was just wondering, um, why?"_

_"Well, I'm hot, and now, you're hot. It's basic logic," he said blandly._

_Marley gave him a skeptical look. The utter rudeness this boy had been able to treat her with within the forty-five seconds he had spoken to her was unbelievable. She was about to give him a rude "no", before she began to think about it._

_Maybe it was time to move on. After all, she had bawled her eyes out all throughout Thanksgiving break, isn't the mending process supposed to begin after the mourning period?_

_Ryder had probably moved on by now. For all she knew, he could be making out with some fake bleach-blonde slut in the back of his car right now at this second. The thought made Marley cringe._

_Marley sighed, "Fine. If I have to."_

And they had been together ever since.

They had both intended it to be just one date, but they had actually had fun together. And not in the dirty way. They had gone on the casual cliche first date. He picked her up from her house to take her to the nearby diner, and that was when they realized they were actually neighbors. They both lived in Lima Heights Adjacent.

At the diner, they discovered that they had similar taste in music and had the same favorite bands.

Then, they had went to see The Hunger Games. It was Marley's fifth time seeing it in theaters, but it was Jake's first. Because of this, Marley pretty much had to whisper what was happening in the movie to Jake all throughout the show. Though, it was actually fun, Marley had found Jake's sarcastic comments throughout the movie rather amusing.

Fortunately, they did not "hook-up" at the end of the night. Instead, Jake had asked her out on a second date.

They both grew to like each other. Besides, they were the perfect match. Marley was the popular cheerleader and Jake was the bad-boy turned good.

But Marley knew they couldn't last forever. Jake was no Ryder. She still felt as if she had betrayed him by dating someone new.

But Marley stayed with Jake anyway. She had decided to enjoy their relationship while it lasted. Besides, life was short, and it's important to take chances. At least, that's what her mom had always told her.

Jake gave Marley a concerned look, "Do you want me to go punch him in the face?"

"No, he's not worth it. But I appreciate it."

"No problem."

* * *

Ryder couldn't believe it.

She had a boyfriend. Someone else other than him had finally discovered how amazing Marley really was.

It had all happened so fast. He didn't want to slushy her, not really. But he knew that if he hadn't, Hunter would have kicked him out of the Warblers in a second. Hunter always carried a spare slushy with him in case he ever had an encounter with a New Directions member.

"Nerds. They're everywhere," he had told him.

Except, Marley wasn't a nerd. Well, not anymore. Had he seriously done this to her? Is it his fault that Marley is now as bitchy as Kitty?

He had suggested the plan at the beginning of the year. It was his first year with the Warblers and he had wanted to impress Hunter and Sebastian. He was in it to win it. The plan was to get close to the most vulnerable Glee member. And that was Marley.

_Ryder smirked to himself. The plan was going perfectly - he had blown away Mr. Schue and the other Glee members with his flawless audition of "Jukebox Hero" for what will probably be a real crappy musical production of "Grease". He was absolutely sure he had already been granted the part of Danny Zuko. Now he had to find his Sandy._

_Finn had told him that her name was Marley Rose. She was already in the Glee club. And, she was a sophomore, just like him. She was the perfect victim._

_He had already seen Marley's audition for Sandy. He had snuck into the auditorium to observe the Sandy auditions. He had found Marley and Unique's performance of "Blow Me One Last Kiss" most outstanding._

_He spotted her by her locker. He put on a friendly smile and walked up to her._

_"Hi, I'm Ryder Lynn."_

_Marley turned to the boy with the Justin Bieber haircut with surprise. _

_There was a sudden click when their eyes met. _

_But they both ignored it._

_Ryder watched the way her blue eyes lit up and how small wrinkles began to form beside her eyes as she smiled widely, "I-I know," Ryder playfully raised an eyebrow. Marley quickly assured him, "I saw you in the football game on Saturday. Your end zone moves are awesome."_

_Ryder had joined the football team when he transferred to McKinley. Dalton didn't have any sports teams, so he had decided to take advantage of being able to attend a public school._

This girl wouldn't be so bad to hang out with_, Ryder thought to himself. I mean, come on, she liked his end zone moves. That was pretty cool._

_Ryder smiled sheepishly at the ground before looking back up to her._

_ "I'm Marley, by the way." she said._

_"I know, I know," Ryder said, grinning, "Your mom rules. She always sneaks me extra meatballs on Spaghetti Day."_

_Complimenting Marley's mom was part of his tactic to get closer to her. He knew she and her mom were often made fun of. Marley would fall into a false sense of security with him if she believed he liked her mom. Which he sort of did, though. Millie Rose was a very nice person._

_"Really?" She smiled wider. Ryder nodded. She turned back to her locker an began storing her books, "Wow, she must really like you," she told him jokingly._

_Ryder laughed softly, before continuing, "Uh, Finn Hudson told me you were probably gonna play Sandy in the school play."_

_Ryder almost immediately saw the spark of excitement and relief in Marley's eyes. He could literally see her fangirling on the inside from his one statement. _

_He found her cute._

_"I thought if we were going to be working together, I should say hi," he suddenly lowered his voice and slightly leaned forward so only she would hear him, "I think they want me to play Danny."_

_Before Marley could answer though, a blonde girl in a Cheerios uniform strutted up to them, "Hey, Ryder. Hey, Mona."_

_Marley turned around to face the cheerleader, clutching her flower print binder to her chest. Both Ryder and Marley recognized her as Kitty, aka the New Young Quinn Fabray._

_Ryder watched fear and sadness overcome Marley's facial features. He suddenly felt concerned._

_"It's Marley," the brunette told her firmly._

_"Oh, right, 'Marley'. Like the dead dog movie?"_

Says the person who's name is "Kitty"_, Ryder thought to himself, annoyed. He was slightly irritated that Kitty had interrupted his conversation with Marley._

_He had suddenly forgotten all about the Warbler plan._

_The blonde she-devil continued in a sickly sweet voice. "I heard you killed your 'Grease' audition. And I know you're excited with the prospect of playing Sandy because everyone knows poor people don't have many opportunities to actually enjoy anything," she smirked, "Which is why it's gonna be such a bummer when I take the part from you."_

_Ryder gave the shorter blonde a bewildered look. How could she just say stuff like that and not feel bad? Especially when she was bullying such a kind person. He glanced at Marley, who expression was displaying hurt. He was suddenly worried about her. Did she have to deal with this everyday?_

_She asked tentatively, "You're auditioning?" Ryder heard panic lacing her voice. He almost scoffed. Marley had absolutely nothing to worry about, her voice was perfect._

_She didn't seem to believe it._

_"I am," Kitty directed her next insult to Ryder, "By the way, Ryder, you should know about this one's gene pool. She's only got a month or two before she starts ballooning to her natural weight of 5,000 pounds and starts writing her memoir, 'Fifty Shades of Gravy'."_

_Okay, that was going too far. Nothing Kitty had just said about Marley was true. Was she seriously implying that Marley was FAT? He couldn't just let this bitch treat Marley like this. It was totally unfair._

_Ryder refrained from punching the girl in the face for two reasons - one, he couldn't hit a girl, and two, he had seen Marley's miserable expression and realized that injuring this Cheerio was probably only going to make Marley feel worse._

_"Wow, you're kind of a bitch. What did she ever do to you?" He defended Marley. The brunette turned to him with a startled expression._

_"Well, if you must know," Kitty turned back to Marley, "I found you irritating as shit when you decided to cast yourself as the poor little simply adorkable nice girl. But I know, and you know, and sweet Baby Jesus in the manger knows what you really are: a scheming little kiss-ass."_

_Ryder glared fiercely at the blonde. Marley didn't deserve to be put down like this. He had had enough of this._

_Apparently, so did Marley. She simply closed her locker and walked away._

_He watched her go, slightly disappointed that she had left him._

At first, he had acted as the perfect boyfriend. He always bought her her favorite flowers, and had his arm around her shoulder all the time. He joined the New Directions.

But after a while, he no longer had to pretend.

He used to make fun of the New Directions because it always seemed like they were trying too hard to be "diverse". But it was really the only place where he could totally relax and just sing.

He loved Marley. He loved everything about her. He never really knew why, maybe it was because she was really smart and pretty and had an amazing singing voice and was just so _perfect_. He loved how she understood him so well and accepted him for who he was and he loved her crazy obsession with The Hunger Games and how she secretly loved Jessica Simpson and the Spice Girls. She wasn't like other girls. She was different. But he still didn't consider those good enough reasons to _love _her. It's just that, he was immediately drawn to her the moment he met her. He just didn't fully realize it until later.

When Sectionals began to come around, Ryder Lynn was the most anxious person in the universe. What was he supposed to do? He desperately DID NOT want to leave Marley and the Glee club, they were one of the only things that made him happy, but he was supposed to be devoted to the Warblers.

And when he had been singing with the other Warblers on stage, in his dark-blue blazer and his hair slightly gelled, he had seen Marley in the audience. She had seemed so devastated, worry contorting her face, her usually-blue eyes now a colder, gray tint. He had ruined her.

Well, obviously, that sadness had turned into anger.

And now, thanks to him, she was dating a Puckerman. A PUCKERMAN.

The worst thing was, Ryder could tell that Jake actually really liked Marley. He wasn't really sure about the depth of his feelings, but he knew there were some. And it crushed his heart. But what did he expect? That Marley was just going to sit around and wait for him to come back to her and have them ride off into the sunset and live happily ever after? Ryder should be happy she's moving on.

But when he had seen Jake rush to Marley on stage and then grab her hand and drag her out of the auditorium, he couldn't help but feel the horrible sensation of pure rage run through his body. Like, he didn't know that jealousy could feel this sucky. Seriously, what the fuck? Marley was supposed to be his. Did what they had mean anything to her?

Ryder was mostly pissed at himself. It wasn't supposed to mean anything to him.

He had destroyed Marley's spirit and now she was a bad person, just like he was. He was also pissed that he was still having these stupid feelings for her. He had thought that what he had for her would just disappear after Sectionals, but they didn't. They actually grew stronger. When Ryder returned to Dalton after Thanksgiving break and was welcomed back with not-so-warm, sort-of-welcoming arms, everything felt so messed up. He was so used to seeing Marley everyday. _  
_

He missed Glee club, too. ACapella had never really been his thing.

Ryder was angry with her. He knew she could shoot higher than a frickin _Puckerman. _It's not fair that Jake, out of all people, gets to have her now. He thought she was smarter than that. Jake would break her heart for sure.

"RYDER! WE'RE LEAVING!"

Ryder finally realized that he was having his in-mind monologue still glued to the spot on the stage he had been in when he had slushied his ex-girlfriend. He stared down at the icy blue puddle in front of him. His eyes followed the identical blue-raspberry footsteps that lead from the puddle to the exit of the auditorium.

"Shouldn't we clean this up?"

"Are you a fucking _idiot_? Never in the _history_ of Dalton Academy has a Warbler _ever_ questioned whether we were to _clean up_ the results of a slushy-facial." Hunter scowled at him.

Trent spoke up, "How would you know that? You've only been here for, what, like three months?"

Everyone turned to glare at him as Hunter shot him a menacing stare that had Trent recoiling immediately.

"Dude, cleaning up this mess would totally dock us, like, fifty badass-points," Jeff told him.

Ryder sighed and followed his "fellow" Warblers out of the auditorium.

* * *

Marley stomped angrily out of the school gym, her hands balled up into fists by her side. Many of the students around her stared after her with expressions of confusion and interest.

She had just been brutally kicked out of Cheerios practice by Coach Sylvester for not wearing her uniform. She was banned from Cheerios until she was capable in showing up in her correct cheerleading attire.

It was because of Ryder that this happened. His stupid blue raspberry slushy had stained her uniform and she had been forced to send it out for dry-cleaning.

Marley made note to herself to mail Ryder the bill.

Marley was totally pissed off. Right when she thought she had finally pushed her life back on track again, Ryder ruined it all and Marley was once again a train-wreck.

Marley made her way to her locker and slammed it open loudly, sending a surprising echo throughout the school halls, causing even more heads to turn to her. She began aggressively taking down every single photo that included Ryder that she had purposely left up in her locker.

It wasn't just the uniform-incident that was making her upset. Marley didn't think that seeing Ryder so suddenly again after a long time would effect her this much.

After seeing him again that ONE, SINGLE time, everything came back to her. Every corner she turned, she was greeted by another memory of when everything had seemed perfectly normal. Literally, she could see an apple and be all like, "I remember that Ryder liked apples."

Marley had _thought _that she was finally beginning to move on from the Son of Frankenteen. That is, until the he-devil himself made a reappearance in her life.

Even worse, she always thought of Ryder when she was with Jake. Even more than usual. Every time Jake did something, Marley would think of how Ryder would have done it differently, or what Ryder would have thought of it.

And Marley felt extremely guilty. She was technically emotionally-cheating on her totally-okay boyfriend, but she couldn't help but feel as if she had been a traitor to Ryder by being with Jake. Who knew high-school romances had so much conflict?

She felt like she was going insane. Ryder was on her mind twenty four-seven. She had reached her breaking point when Coach had thrown her out of Cheerios practice. Shw just wanted all of it to stop. She wanted to forget Ryder.

He had humiliated her way too many times. He humiliated her in front of the Glee club, after he had them purposely disqualified from Sectionals. It seemed as if it had been all her fault. She should have realized that Ryder was a traitor. After that, everyone saw her as the stupid, wide-eyed, naiive girl who had fallen so easily for the enemy. The whole school knew about the incident by now. The only way for Marley to escape the embarrassment and teasing was to become of a higher status than them. She didn't want to force her mom to move them out of yet another school. That was one of the main reasons she became a Cheerio.

Marley wasn't sure how it happened, but somehow, the whole show-choir community found out about the episode of betrayal and now Marley and the New Directions were once again the laughing stock of show choir. This was even worse than when Finn had made out with Rachel for two whole minutes on stage at Nationals in New York.

And then, Ryder slushied her. That certainly deflated her well-built ego. The Warblers still thought lesser of her. That was humiliating. And who knows how many people saw Jake Puckerman leading a blue slushy-drenched Marley Rose to the girls bathroom? Word would spread soon that one of McKinley's most popular girls had been on the other end of a trip to Slushy-ville. She would never hear the end of it.

But despite all of this, it was exhilarating to see Ryder again. Marley felt as if that ice-cold blue-raspberry slushy had brought her back to life.

And as she practically took apart her locker, Marley felt naked without her Cheerios uniform on. She was wearing what she used to wear - a pair of faded hand-me-down skinny jeans, a cheap, flowery flowy blouse she had purchased from the nearest thrift shop, and a pair of white Converse-knock offs she had found at Walmart. Just because Marley was a Cheerio didn't mean she was rich. She had even been eliminated of her high-pony. Now, her hair fell down in her natural dark-brown curls around her shoulders. She felt as if her guard was down. She felt scared and vulnerable.

She touched Ryder's heart pendant that she had always worn, even after their "unofficial" breakup.

That's when she realized that it didn't matter whether she shredded every single photo of her with Ryder in existence, or if she burned everything that reminded her of him to ashes.

No matter what, Marley would never be able to forget about Ryder.

* * *

Christmas chapter coming up next. ;)


	5. Christmas Reencounter

Uggghhhhh this took so long to write. I've been having writer's block recently. I sorta already have a plot line planned out in my head, but it always takes me FOREVER to get my ideas typed down.

IM SO ADDICTED TO RYDER AND JAKE'S VERSION OF UNCHAINED MELODY. I mean, I've been obsessed with it for a long time but yeah I thought you guys should know...? :/

I'm listening to "Get Lucky" right now.

Okay, now the chapter. Enjoy!

* * *

Jake wasn't exactly sure what he had gotten himself into.

Jake Puckerman was a lot of things - a badass, a former manslut, a rebel - but he was definitely _not _a singer.

Well, that's what he thought. His girlfriend, Marley Rose, thought otherwise.

Ever since she had accidentally walked in on him casually strumming and singing with a guitar that she didn't even know he owned, she was constantly commenting on how "amazing" his voice was.

_Marley ran to Jake's house, which was not far from hers, in a rush to get there on time. She was running a bit late for their tutoring session. Despite the fact that Marley was a Cheerio and the stereotypical cheerleader was known to be rather dumb, she had straight A's. Jake, on the other hand, did not. _

_Marley didn't mind having to assist her boyfriend in his studies, although, Jake's constant attempts to get her to makeout with him on his bed could be really annoying (eh, he was a Puckerman. What was she to expect?) She had tutored Ryder when they had still been on speaking terms and she had actually helped him out a lot with his dyslexia._

_Marley sighed for a moment. She missed Ryder. She had loved tutoring him. He always worked so hard and she couldn't help but find it cute when he got frustrated with a problem. She found it even more adorable when he loudly celebrated and shoved his B- in her face. And then he would pick her up and spin her around, then kiss her and say she was the most angelic, most beautiful human being in the whole world-_

Damn it,_ Marley scolded herself, _stop thinking about him. Think about Jake.

_Marley continued to repeat Jake's name in her head as she raced to her boyfriend's house. She thanked his mother when she opened the door for her and them quickly made her way upstairs to his bedroom._

_She immediately stopped by his door when she heard singing._

Oh. My. God. _Marley thought to herself, _He's singing!

_He was SINGING. She knew that he listened to music, but she hadn't known that he could sing. And he was good. Almost as good as Ryder._

_Marley instantly mentally screamed at herself to focus on Jake, not Ryder._

_He was singing, "Never Say Never" by the Fray, strumming on a guitar that Marley guessed he must have been hiding in the back of his messy closet._

_His voice was smooth. It was modulated - almost perfectly balanced. It wasn't some kind of creepy, low, deep voice, but it wasn't high-pitched or croaky._

_When he finished, she burst into his room and shouted so loud, Jake's mother could hear the blue-eyed brunette's accusation from the kitchen downstairs, loud and clear._

_"YOU CAN SING?!"_

Jake didn't know that Marley could yell so loud, despite having to listen to her shriek cheerfully at football games every week, until that day.

Well, that's what he gets for having a former show choir geek as a girlfriend.

(But he _did _really like her. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been so accepting of these quirks.)

And that's how he had gotten landed in the spot he was currently stuck in - standing in a line with Marley, loosely holding her hand, waiting to perform for an _audition._

They were trying out for a job at the theme park. It was now December, and the amusement park was in need of two exceptional duet-ists who were willing to sing Christmas songs everyday, for eight hours straight.

Luckily, the job paid pretty well, and both Marley and Jake could use some extra Christmas money to buy gifts.

Unfortunately, the fact that the job paid well meant that the line for auditioning was long. And a long line meant a bored Marley and Jake. They were playing "Slide" for the sixteenth time when the Glee club passed by.

Every single member of the New Directions was there. Marley couldn't help but feel a small twinge of guilt.

Jake immediately dropped his hands to his sides and murmured to Marley, "Nerd alert."

Marley rolled her eyes as she straightened her Cheerio's skirt, "Shut up, Jake. They're not nerds-" suddenly, the show choir group made their way to her. She slapped a smirk onto her face and said, "Hey, nerds."

Jake nudged her, obviously amused, a mocking grin gracing his face. Marley just glared at him.

"Hey!" Blaine exclaimed, "We are _not _'nerds'. As Kurt would say..."

Both Marley and Jake tuned out Blaine's "heartwarming" speech about how stupid the high school social pyramid is and how Glee club means so much more than what it seems and how they are, in fact, NOT nerds. The bow-tie, hair-gel loving teen's mini-lecture would have made Mr. Schue proud.

Blaine was going on for a while now, so Kitty raised a finger to shush him, "Please, shut up. No one cares," she turned back to Marley before smiling sweetly, "We just wanted you to know that we're also here to audition."

"For what?" Marley asked curiously.

"For the show choir performing job near the Tea Cups of Terror, you know, that ride that was created by some stupid idiot, whom everyone probably believed was a genius, who thought that children would find it entertaining to spin around in a giant China cup until they puke out all that pink cotton candy and cheap churros into the nearest trash can? Yeah. Ever since Lynnie brutally backstabbed us at Sectionals, everything has pretty much gone downhill. And now, we're reduced to having to perform at a kid's _theme park._"

"Kitty, we need to stay positive-"

The blonde shot Blaine another warning look, "Do _not _interrupt me again."

"I love the Tea Cups of Terror," Brittany said.

Kitty turned her head up to the sky, "Oh, Lord, I'm surrounded by idiots." And with that, she led the other members to their destination, wheeling Artie with her.

Marley couldn't help but feel bad for the blonde. They somewhat had become sort-of friends, after all. Now that she thought about it, Kitty had become good friends with all the sophomores in Glee club, which was Marley, Ryder, and Unique. And now, both Marley and Ryder were gone. She now had two less people to make fun of, yet love at the same time.

Jake smiled, "I like her."

Marley almost giggled. She knew that Kitty had this massive school-girl crush on Jake. For some reason, she couldn't bring herself to feel jealous, or even angry, that her boyfriend liked another Cheerio who just so happened to have a crush on him.

They both redirected their attention to the outdoor stage, where the next person was beginning to sing.

Marley's eyes widened as her jaw dropped.

Yet again, it was none other than Ryder Lynn.

Jake wrapped an arm around Marley's waist before questioning, "Is he, like, stalking you?"

Marley was beginning to wonder the same thing. Her hand immediately flew up the the heart pendant around her neck. She carefully tucked it into the top of her Cheerios uniform so Ryder wouldn't notice she still wore it, if he spotted her.

And spot her, he did. Their eyes locked and there was a sudden, all-too-familiar spark, despite their distance. Brown met blue and everything felt so _right _for a moment. Like nothing bad had ever happened to them. Like Marley wasn't really a bitchy head-Cheerio. Like Ryder wasn't really a Dalton Warbler spy.

Of course, then they realized that nothing had changed. Jake's arm was still around Marley. Marley was still the bitchy head-Cheerio. Ryder was still the Dalton Warbler spy. And something bad had already happened to them. Nothing would ever be able to go back to normal.

Ryder's cover of Elvis Presley's "Blue Christmas" was, of course, splendid. Marley briefly thought that this song was perfect for him, especially since he and Elvis had my matching sideburns.

Marley also couldn't help but think that Ryder could possibly be singing to her. He _had_ kept his eyes on her the whole time as he practically told her, straight to her face, that he would be blue without her. But it wasn't like she was going to have a "white Christmas" with Jake, as the lyrics had implied.

Marley squeezed her eyes shut for a moment before opening them back up. She was overthinking the situation. Why _wouldn't_ he look at her? He _had _betrayed and slushied her. When you do things like that, you're bound to be interested in how your victim is doing.

Marley's heart began to race as Ryder began to make his way over to her and Jake, after he finished his audition.

"Well, hello there, Cheerio Marley and Badass Puckerman."

Marley crossed her arms and slightly pointed her chin up, "Hello, Ryder."

Their eyes locked again, for a moment. Marley could see that there was more to Ryder than the rude expression he was giving her. He almost seemed sad for a second.

Ryder pulled his gaze away from Marley. His eyes landed on Jake, who had his arm around Marley's waist. The Warbler didn't like it. He didn't want the Puckerman touching her.

Ryder decided to continue tormenting them, "Haven't seen you since I slushied poor little Marley in her beloved public school auditorium."

Marley scowled at him.

Jake began to unravel his arm from Marley's waist, "There are many things worse than a cheap drink from a convenient store." He clenched his fists, "And I suggest you do not force me into having to show you these things."

Ryder's expression did not change and he stayed glued to his spot, "You think you're _so _intimidating." He crossed his arms, "All brawn and no brain."

Jake glared, "At least I have more brains than you, dyslexic freak."

Ryder's face fell as the words pierced him like knives to the chest.

Marley couldn't help but let out a little gasp. That was going way too far, she knew how sensitive Ryder was on that subject.

She elbowed her short-tempered boyfriend in the gut, hard. So hard, in fact, that she might have _just_ burst open a few of his intestines.

"Ow! What the _hell_, Marley?!"

Ryder looked like he was about to swing a punch at Jake's face, so Marley grabbed Jake's arm and began to drag him towards the stage, "Come _on, _Jake! It's our turn!" She glared at her boyfriend, before giving Ryder a short glance, "Bye, Ryder."

* * *

Ryder had to admit that Jake and Marley's audition with "Baby, It's Cold Outside" had been pretty good. It kinda sucked having to watch Marley sing a lovey-dovey song with another guy. Though, Ryder couldn't help but feel glad that Jake and Marley's chemistry throughout the song hadn't impressed him much.

He now officially despised Jake. He had already known that he was bad news, having to hear rumors about the half-black Jew throughout his few months at McKinley. He had stolen the heart of his ex-girlfriend whom he had betrayed, yet still had feelings for despite the many times he had tried to convince himself that he didn't. Ryder had always had a bad feeling about him, and his hate grew even more when he had made fun of his dyslexia.

Ryder watched as Marley and Jake stepped down from the small stage and began to make their way out of the auditioning area. He awkwardly stared at them with an expressionless face as they passed by him. Jake just glared at him.

Marley let her eyes rest on him for a moment. She gave him a small, hesitant smile. Ryder responded with a faint grin.

* * *

So I guess the Christmas plot line will be in parts. :/


	6. Let It Snow

Oh my God, I hope I finish this Christmas thing before Christmas is over.

SHOUTOUT TO **TeaAndGlee**! Dude, I love your Ryley fanfics! Thanks for reviewing for every single chapter so far, you're so sweet. NEW PERSPECTIVE IS LIKE THE MOST EPIC THING CREATED IN EXISTENCE.

Enjoy the chapter!

* * *

Jake sat on the plastic fold-up chair, staring at his feet with an irritated expression on his face as his girlfriend scolded him.

"Are you an idiot?" Jake had to admit he was a bit afraid, Marley seemed pretty mad, "Actually, don't answer that. I don't want to risk having _you _calling me an idiot."

He glared up at her, "Why are you getting so mad? It's not that big of a deal!"

Marley put her hands on her hips, her legs planted firmly into the grass of the park grounds, "You can't make fun of people for having something they can't control! It's unfair, and it's cowardly. Do you think Ryder _wants _to be dyslexic? No! Of course not! He probably hates it! So you don't need to go around, reminding him that he has dyslexia. It's stupid and annoying as fuck."

Jake knew she was being serious. She almost never dropped the F-bomb, unless she was being dead serious. "You're only defending him because he's your ex! You need to get over your stupid girly school-girl crush, because you are emotionally cheating on me! You're a _cheater!_"

Marley raised a finger at him, "Don't you _dare _try to turn this onto me! I'm just saying that bullying someone for their disabilities is stupid. Like..." Marley thought for a second, "Would you ever bully Becky Jackson?"

"No," Jake admitted, "partly because I know that if I do, Coach Sylvester will kill me."

"Exactly," Marley said, beginning to calm down, "there shouldn't be any difference between the way you treat Becky and the way to treat Ryder."

"But _you _always trash-talk Ryder!"

"That does _not_ count. He pretended to be in love with me for three frickin months and then dumped me at Sectionals by betraying the Glee club and I by rejoining our rival show choir, embarrassing us in front of the audience, the entire show choir community, the whole school student body, and basically the entire state of Ohio, leaving me depressed during all of Thanksgiving break-" she took a breath, "-and then he slushied me, ruining my Cheerios uniform, in front of a bunch of, at least, like, 20 cute, smart private-school teenage boys in MY own auditorium, in my own school, after _daring_ to imply that he was a better singer than me, which, by the way, is obviously NOT true. So yeah, I like to think of myself as an exception."

"Fine," Jake said, defeated.

"Alright, good. Now, if it had been any other Lima Loser, I would've made you apologize straight to their face. But since I refuse to come in any more kind of contact with Ryder Lynn, you may apologize to me instead, and I will use my telepathic powers to send your apology to him, as an anonymous message of course."

"What? No-"

"APOLOGIZE."

Jake sighed and looked Marley dead in the eye, "Ryder, I'm sorry for making a joke about your dyslexia," he mumbled out, before saying louder, "By the way, I hate you."

"Good job." Marley gave him a short peck on the cheek, "Now, let's go enjoy the devastated looks on those other try-outs when they see that _we _got the job and _they _didn't."

* * *

"Ryder Lynn and Marley Rose - you got the job." the theme park co-manager exclaimed with fake enthusiasm.

The other job contestants awkwardly left the stage, disappointed at the loss of the possibility of having more money.

Marley was worried. Was Jake going to be pissed off that she was going to have to sing love songs with her evil ex-boyfriend every day for the next several weeks? She tentatively turned her head to her left to check on her boyfriend. She immediately turned her head back when she saw his face. Yup, he seemed pretty pissed off.

Her gloomy attitude suddenly brightened up a bit when she spotted Ryder fist-bumping himself, out of the corner of her eye. She bit back a laugh - he was such a goof.

The co-manager boredly handed both Ryder and Marley an assortment of papers, "These are some forms to ensure that you work here now. There's also a list of Christmas songs we have available to sing. It's your choice which songs you want to sing, and whether you want to do solos or duets, as long as you choose from the list."

Marley nodded. This seemed like a pretty cool job.

"There's also a set of rules, those include - be careful with the microphones - they're expensive, you are only allowed to get snacks from the food stands during your break - to avoid having you two puke onstage, trust me, it's happen before. Um, some more rules - no fights, no pranks, no arguments, and no making out. This is a CHILDREN'S theme park. Even though you two are both very attractive people, and mistletoe is in season, we don't need to see," she made a disgusted face, "_that._"

Ryder almost laughed. He doubted that Marley's jackass of a boyfriend would let _that _happen.

Marley blushed, "Um. Thank you, we're gonna get going now." She grabbed Jake's hand and they began to make their way to the amusement park exit and to the parking lot. Marley made sure to avoid having any interaction with Ryder.

_You were soft today, _Marley told herself sternly, _you didn't insult the glee club, and you were vulnerable in front of Ryder. You need to get your act together, Marley, especially since you're going to have to see him everyday from now on, until after the holidays. You don't want to do anything that could get your hurt later on._

* * *

Marley walked through the entrance of the already crowded theme park and made her way to the outdoor stage she had auditioned at with Jake yesterday.

Ryder was already there.

"Hey." He said.

"Hi." She said back, "You're not wearing the Warbler getup." She cursed herself for blurting out like that.

Marley couldn't help but appreciate the fact that Ryder had ditched the Warbler blazer and was wearing a green hoodie with jeans - the typical teenage boy outfit. It somehow made things feel less...wrong.

He raised an eyebrow, "And you're not wearing your Cheerios uniform."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I've just broken a Cheerio rule. Cheerios wear the high-pony everywhere, and I mean, _everywhere._"

She was wearing an comfy, oversized black sweater and dark blue jeans, along with red ballet flats. Her side bangs were braided and clipped to the sides, the rest of her hair casually fell over her shoulders. She also seemed to be wearing lighter makeup. He noticed she was wearing a necklace around her neck. Ryder squinted at the silver heart pendant.

Ryder narrowed his eyes, "Is that...is that the necklace I gave you?"

The brunette's eyes widened, "Wh-what? Wh_aaaaat?" _she quickly fumbled with the pendant and stuffed it into her sweater, "I-I-I have absolutely _no _idea what you're talking about."

Marley watched in horror as a smirk began to spread across his face.

"No, no, I'm pretty sure that was the pendant _I _gave you on Valentine's day."

"It's _not!" _Marley shifted her gaze to the side as she said quietly, "Why would I wear a necklace _you _gave me? That would be _weird..._"

Ryder raised an eyebrow, "So you just _happened _to have a necklace that looked like an amazingly exact replica of the _exact_ same necklace I gave you in February? And you just _coincidentally _decidedput it on this morning?"

Marley was blushing bright red by now.

He allowed a grin to grow on his face. She still wore his necklace.

_She still wore his necklace._

That had to mean something.

Marley was staring at her shoes, her face still a radiant shade of tomato red.

Ryder decided to spare her further humiliation and asked, "Where's your boyfriend?"

Marley turned her face back up to him, her cheeks now faded to a more pink color, "He went to visit his half-brother in LA," she regained confidence as her voice got slightly louder, "he said he was sick of all this 'Christmas crap' and needed to escape and rightfully celebrate his Jewish-ness," she paused, "so, uh, hould we get started?"

"Oh. Um, yeah."

The rest of the band was starting to arrive and were beginning to set up their instruments. Marley and Ryder set up and the microphones that had been conveniently placed near the small stage.

One of the band members was explaining to the pair the reasons of the faulty sound system when a familiar blonde Cheerio approached them.

Kitty jumped onto the stage, "Well, if it isn't the McKinley Bitch and the Dalton Prick."

Marley greeted her boredly, "Hey, Kitty."

"What do you want?" Ryder questioned.

"So, I see you guys signed up to sing mushy sappy Christmas love songs everyday together. How adorable."

Marley shook her head, "Not _together._" Ryder nodded, agreeing.

Kitty smiled, almost genuinely, as if she knew something she didn't, "Sure. If you guys didn't want to sing together, either one of you could easily quit."

Ryder rolled his eyes, "Kitty, why are you here?"

The blonde shrugged, "I wanted to be here for your guys' first performance together since Ryder Warbler ended up being a backstabbing, idiotic, stuck-up, asshole of a jerk who-"

"Okay, Kitty, get on to the point," Marley interrupted.

"Well, the New Directions weren't offered the show choir position. Finn was so pissed off, he flipped over a chair. Tina said it was sophomore year all over again. The Glee club pretty much sucks now," she sat down in one of the benches in the audience, "so, perform for me. I am in serious need for decent entertainment. I suggest 'Let It Snow', 'Last Christmas' is too mainstream."

Marley shrugged and motioned for the band to begin the music. Both Marley and Ryder stepped up to their microphones.

_[Ryder]_

_Oh, the weather outside is frightful_

_But the fire is so delightful_

_And since we've no place to go_

_Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow_

Ryder smiled sideways at Marley, gesturing for her to sing the next part.

_[Marley]_

_It doesn't show signs of stoppin'_

_And I've bought some corn for poppin'_

_The lights are turned way down low,_

_Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow_

They sang the chorus together in perfect harmony, Marley singing in a higher pitch and Ryder in a lower.

_[Both]_

_When we finally kiss goodnight_

_How I'll hate going out in the storm_

_But if you really hold me tight_

_Then all the way home I'll be warm_

_[Marley]_

_The fire is slowly dying_

_And, my dear, we're still good-byeing_

They were facing each other now, singing to one another with bright expressions in their faces. Kitty smirked knowingly_._

_[Ryder]_

_But as long as you love me so_

_[Both]_

_Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow_

_[Scatting]_

_Oh, the weather outside is frightful_

_But the fire is so delightful_

_And since we've no place to go_

_Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow_

_The weather outside is frightful_

_But the fire is so delightful_

_And since we've no place to go_

_Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow_

_It doesn't show signs of stoppin'_

_And I've bought some corn for poppin'_

_The lights are turned way down low,_

_Let it snow_

_When we finally kiss goodnight_

_How I'll hate going out in the storm!_

_But if you finally hold me tight_

_Then all the way home I'll be warm_

_The fire is slowly dying,_

_And, my dear, we're still good-byeing_

_But as long as you love me so_

_Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow_

_Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow_

"Well, that was the most boring performance I've ever been forced to watch."

"What-"

"But I was right." She grinned triumphantly.

Marley gave her a confused look, "About what?"

Kitty stood up from her seat. She crossed her arms across her chest and gave them pointed look, as if they were so stupid to not realize something that was so clearly obvious to her.

"You two idiots are _so _in love."

* * *

Imagine that version of LIS as Kurt and Blaine's version. Ugh, I suck at describing performances. Just imagine them the way they would be interpreted on Glee. :) Byes!


	7. Christmas

_please excuse the total drama queen moment you are about to read._

OH MY GOD GUYS I JUST REALIZED THIS RIDICULOUSLY HORRIBLE MISTAKE I MADE IN THIS FANFIC OH MY GOD

GUYS IF MARLEY AND RYDER ALREADY HAD THEIR VALENTINE'S DAY, THAT MEANS THEY ALREADY HAD THEIR CHRISTMAS AND THIS IS A CHRISTMAS CHAPTER AND OH MY GOD IM SO STUPID AND IM SO SO SO SORRY JUST OH MY GOD I FEEL LIKE IVE RUINED EVERYTHING IM SO FRUSTRATED WITH MYSELF AND OGHHDISKWNQKXK

OKAY GUYS, OKAY. JUST PRETEND THAT FEBRUARY COMES BEFORE DECEMBER OT THAT RYDER GOT MARLEY HER HEART PENDANT AS A BDAY OR ANNIVERSARY GIFT OR SOMETHING, I'LL EDIT THAT OLD CHAPTER LATER

GOD GUYS I JUST HAD A HEART ATTACK WHEN I REALIZED THIS. HOW THE HELL AM I GOING TO BECOME A SCREENWRITER WHEN I GROW UP IF I DONT EVEN KNOW THE ORDER OF THE MONTHS SERIOUSLY TJOUGH THIS IS WHAT I GRT FOR NOT PAYINF ATTWNTION WHEN WE DID CALENDAR IN KINDERGARTEN AND FIRST GRADE

sorry for that, that was totally overdramatic and if I had been a reader reading that ridiculously obnoxious monologue freak-out, I would've rolled my eyes. But I really am sorry about messing that up. I promise to fix it later.

By the way, I kind of just spit out this chapter and wrote it really quickly, in fear that I won't finish the Christmas chapters by time Christmas is over. So, please bare with me if there are mistakes. The last Christmas chapter will probably be posted tomorrow, ON CHRISTMAS. Yay, I'm so festive.

Kay, story time.

* * *

Kitty Wilde was a smart girl.

She was in her prime time at the beginning of sophomore year - Coach Sylvester's new head bitch, the brand new Quinn Fabray, she had her Most Tongues Spoken Award from Bible Camp, and everyone pretty much bowed down to her.

So, of course, as McKinley's new gossip queen bitch, she could easily tell when a girl had a hardcore crush on a boy, and vice-versa, thanks to her experiences in the hell-hole known as high school.

At first, she had no idea what was going on between Marley and Ryder. They were obviously not "just friends", but they didn't give each other those stupid batting eyelashes and flirty fingers tactics, the main give-aways of high school crushes. But Kitty didn't recognize their type of relationship. It seemed more real, more meaningful. It meant more than some dumb fling that lasted only a few days. They cared so much for each other, and usually when Kitty _pretended _to be repulsed by their extremely mild PDA, she actually found them adorable. They had been inseparable. She had never, _ever_ caught either one of them flirting with another person, and sometimes, she couldn't help but envy that. She wished she could have what they have.

This might have been partly why Kitty was a total bitch to Marley during the beginning of the year and almost triggered her into being a bulimic. Kitty still felt horrible about it, thank God that Ryder saved her before anything could get too serious. Another thing that Kitty couldn't help but secretly adore about Ryder and Marley - she knew that guys usually _never_ wanted to get involved in serious situations like that, especially for a girl.

This was all why Kitty was admittedly dumbfounded when Ryder unofficially dumped Marley, in the absolute worst way possible. Out of all the show-choir power couples in the state of Ohio, no one would have guessed this scenario would happen to Ryder and Marley. They just...they just worked so well together. They balanced out each other perfectly. Kitty could tell that they had just clicked the moment she had marched up to them on that one day to taunt Marley about Grease auditions. Seriously, everyone had thought they were going to get married and have kids and then grow old together and live happily ever after. They seemed like one of those forever relationships. True, real love.

Kitty had thought that they were _real._

_But they weren't._

* * *

"So, now that I've gotten you away from Bieber-boy, we can have a serious girl chat."

Marley frowned, "I thought you were treating me to a churro as a nice favor. Or as an apology for what you said."

"And what is it that I said?"

"That Ryder and I are in love!" she blurted. A few people turned to stare weirdly at her.

Kitty smirked, "It's not like it's not true. Sweetie, we all know how this is going to end."

Marley stared at her.

The blonde rolled her eyes, "Come on, tell me straight to my face that you're not into Ryder."

"I want my churro."

Kitty gave her a sly smile, "You can still be with Ryder. Don't you like the idea of having a hot, forbidden love affair? And a theme park can provide romantic scenery, this is where I technically had my first date with Artie."

Marley sighed. She and Ryder had came here on one of their first dates.

_"This game is jacked up. It was created by a freaking devil and had been purposely placed onto this planet, into this specific universe, and this particular theme park, __to frickin cock block me, and I'm frickin sick of it!"_

_Marley laughed and rubbed Ryder's back, her touch causing him to relax a bit, "Ryder, it's just skiball."_

_"I hate skiball," he gave the employee who had been working there a dirty look._

_Marley leaned forward and gave him a kiss on the cheek, "Okay, let me try."_

_She took Ryder's previous spot and took a ball into her hand. She slowly swung back, careful not to accidentally hit anyone, and then gently released. The ball had perfect momentum and went at a perfect speed. Marley cheered loudly when it dropped into the 100 slot._

_She poked Ryder in the chest, "Haha! You just got beat by a girl!"_

_He crossed his arms, "You just got lucky. I'd like to see you try again."_

_So she tried again. And she got another 100 points._

_And another._

_And another._

_And another._

_And another._

_And-_

_"STOP! Stop rubbing it in!" He pouted, "It's not my fault that the game only works for pretty girls."_

_Marley blushed and rolled her eyes, "Awww, is the big baby Ry-Ry sad?"_

_Ryder nodded with mock sadness, "Yes. He wants Marley to make him feel better."_

_Marley grinned and leaned up to capture his lips into a slow kiss. She kept her hands on his shoulders, to steady herself. Ryder's hands immediately placed themselves onto Marley's slim waist._

_Ryder noted that she tasted like strawberries, probably her lip gloss, before he ran the tip of his tongue across her bottom lip, begging for an entrance._

_Marley didn't grant him his wish and gave him one more slow, sweet kiss before pulling away reluctantly, "Ryder, we're in a theme park."_

_Ryder sighed sadly before throwing an arm around Marley's shoulders, holding her close against him, "Fine. We're going to go play the Basketballs of Fury game."_

_Marley rolled her eyes, "So that you can play a game you already know you can easily beat me at."_

_"Yes, and so that when you're all sad and pouty that I beat you, I can kiss you and make you feel better."_

_Marley blushed and smiled up at him, "Alright then, basketball it is."_

"Marley? MARLEY!"

Marley shook her head out of her flashback, "Huh? Wha-?"

"You were having another one of your daydreams to when you and Bieber Boy were on Honeymoon Avenue, weren't you?"

"No I wasn't."

"Don't lie to me, Pretty Little Liar."

"Shut up."

"AS I was saying, it's Christmastime. You can drag Shoulders under a mistletoe and then he'll be _forced_ to make out with you!"

"Kitty, I'm not going to unfairly assault Ryder's face, especially when he doesn't want me to."

"Who says that he doesn't want to lip-lock? I'm sure he terribly misses the gross burning sensation his tongue experiences when it tastes the disgusting, cheap, artificial-flavored strawberry lipgloss that you smear on your lips."

"I'm pretty sure Ryder does not want to kiss me, it would be _so _weird."

"No it wouldn't, I've kissed my exes before and it's not weird at all."

"You know what I mean, this is different."

"So? Ryder's totally into you - I could totally see his disturbingly large toner, even from my distance of 6 feet from the stage."

Marley raised an eyebrow, "A 'toner'?"

"A musical boner, have you not seen 'Perfect Pitch'?"

"You mean 'Pitch Perfect'."

"_Whatever. _Either way, Ryder is still crazy for you."

"So what if he is? He's still a Warbler. And I still have a boyfriend."

"_That's _why it's called a _forbidden_ love affair." She winked before handing her a churro. Marley watched her walk away.

_Well, that was an interesting girl chat._

* * *

Ryder laid on his back on his bed, facing his bedroom ceiling.

He had enjoyed his day with Marley. It wasn't really like work. They sort of just hung out in that area of the theme park, sang songs, laughed at funny viral videos on Ryder's phone, ate unhealthy theme park food - stuff like that. Despite the fact that they were supposed to be enemies, they got along pretty well. Of course, there was an increase in insulting humor, but even then they couldn't help but always sustain a friendly tone. It was like they had forgotten about the past. Ryder liked it.

Ryder's eyes wandered around his room as he thought about Marley. Her hair was so long and soft and her eyes were so bright and blue and clear and-

Ryder's eyes landed on a small, cube black box that was sitting on his desk. He narrowed his eyes at it. Was that really...?

_Oh my God, _Ryder thought frantically to himself, _I had forgotten about that._

He quickly got off his bed and made his way over to his desk. He took the box in his hand and slowly opened it.

_Two Months Ago_

_"Do you think Brittany will like it?" Sam held up a charm bracelet, it's main charm and small silver cat._

_Ryder laughed, "Totally."_

_"So what are you getting Marley?"_

_"For what occasion?"_

_"For Christmas."_

_"First of all, may I ask you why we're Christmas shopping in October?"_

_"If we actually go Christmas shopping during December, all the good gifts will be gone in the blink of an eye, not to mention that stores always raise prices during the holiday season. Anyway, what are you getting Marls?"_

_Ryder examined his options in the jewelry display case. _

_Marley was a special girl, so she deserved a special necklace. He asked the jeweler to ring up a simple heart pendant as Sam helped him search for another charm. _

_Ryder decided on a small silver charm shaped as a capital, Times New Roman "R", R as in Ryder._

_Suddenly, Ryder realized that he might not even be on speaking terms with Marley during the holiday season. Sectionals was in November, he doubted that he would be able to give her a Christmas gift after betraying them._

_Ryder stared down at the charm sadly, guilt taking over him once more._

_"Dude, you okay?" Sam put a reassuring hand on his shoulder._

_Ryder changed his gloomy expression and grinned, "Yeah, I'm fine." He pointed at the charm in the display case and told the jeweler, "We'll have that one too."_

And now Ryder still had that charm that he was never going to give to her.

He ran a finger over the smooth R charm before pulling out the small notecard he had placed in the box not only a few months ago.

_Merry Christmas, Marley, _he read his messy handwriting,_ hope you lik the gift. I'm not good at riting sappy love letters, so this is gonna be short. That explanes the fact that this notecard is paticularry small. Anyway, I don't no if your ever gonna read this, but if you are, Im sorry that I lyed to you, I feel horribal. I just wanted you to know that what we had was real, and that you're an amazing girl, Marley, and you dident desurve what I did to you. Please don't be upset over me, Im tottaly out of your league. You can do much better then a idiotic backstabbing Warbler. You were the best girlfrend i ever had, and I'll miss you so much._

_I love you, Marley._

_Love, Ryder_

* * *

Ryder watched Marley as she sat on the edge of the stage. She seemed to be very involved with texting whoever she was talking to. Her eyebrows were scrunched up and her fingers were typing frantically. He watched as she quickly lifted up her hand to push her long hair out of her face before continuing to type away on her phone.

He clenched his jaw. He kind of wished she would get off that phone.

He reached into the pocket of his hoodie and turned over Marley's Christmas gift in his hand. Should he give it to her? Or should he just leave it to gather dust on his desk for the rest of his life? Surely she deserves some closure, though. No, but the gift will just confuse and freak her out. He stuffed it deeper into his pocket and decided to return to staring at Marley.

Suddenly, her phone rang. He observed as she immediately clicked on the "Answer Call" button and brought the phone up to her ear.

"You're being ridiculous!"

There was a silence as she listened to the other person's response.

"No, he's just sitting here, doing nothing," Marley turned to glance at Ryder. He saw the anxious yet irritated look in her eye. He suddenly felt concerned and gave her a questioning look. She held up a finger as a sign to be silent, "_No, _he is _not _trying to make a _move_ on me!"

Ryder suddenly realized who she was talking to. Jake. And they were talking about him.

"Violence will _hardly _be necessary! Why are you being so paranoid?!"

There was another silence before she angrily replied, "You know what? I think _you_ need to learn to trust _me_! In fact, I have more to worried about, knowing that _you_ are a total womanizing jerk who seems to have exploding hormones! Do you know how many times I've caught you flirting with another Cheerio, but decided to brush it off since I knew you wouldn't leave me like that? And now you're upset that I have to hang out with some guy that I _work _with? Why did you even go to LA if you were going to be so annoyingly worried about me?"

Ryder watched as she went on like that, constantly exchanging accusations with her boyfriend over the phone, until she decided to end it.

"You know what? Just give me a break! I'm not talking to you until you come back, when we will discuss this in an appropriate, proper manner. I am _not_ having a break up with my boyfriend over the phone." And with that, she hung up.

Marley's cheeks were slightly flushed from all the shouting that had occurred.

"Feisty. I wouldn't be surprised if Puckerman's eardrums were destroyed by now."

She ignored him, "I guess I'm in a fight with my boyfriend. He thinks I'm cheating on him with you."

"Disgusting."

"I know right."

Their eyes locked and they stared at each other for a moment. They both knew it wasn't true.

"Well," Ryder said, reverting his gaze to her nose, instead of her eyes, "congratulations. It takes guts to tell off a Puckerman."

Marley shook her head, "You really shouldn't categorize them like that. Jake's different from his brother." She sighed, "But I'm not breaking up with him. We need each other."

Ryder felt his heart drop as he gave her a confused look, "What?"

"We're each others distractions. We think the same. We're both scared of losing out popularity, even though we both think it's dumb. We need to stick together, in those terms, or else we'll have no one else to anchor us. We'll lose ourselves. We're really one another's only friend. I know I can count on him if I have to." She paused, "Does that make sense?"

"Nope," Ryder replied, "but that was all very poetic. No wonder you were besties with your English teacher."

"Shut up. That is so not true."

He shrugged, "But I guess I know what you mean about popularity. It's like, I want to be a Warbler, but I didn't - I don't want to..." He trailed off, unsure of what to say. Suddenly, he blurted out, "I'm sorry I slushied you."

"What? Seriously?"

"Yeah," he murmured, "it was stupid."

"Damn right it was," she answered, "the amount of slushy that had gotten into my shoe was enough to provide a beverage to the entire school population." She sighed, "But I accept your apology."

"Even though it _was _stupid," he grinned slyly, "it was also hilarious. I think Nick got it on camera. Hunter is planning on keeping it in case we're in need of blackmail material."

Marley glared at him, "It was not funny. That stuff burns."

"Oh, I know."

_Ryder walked down the hall, his arm wrapped around Marley._

_"Marley, we are no longer 'Marley Rose' and 'Ryder Lynn'. We are now the next Danny Zuko and Sandy Dumbrowskii. Or Sandy Olsson, if you want to go all Newton-John."_

_"I'll go with Olsson. Dumbrowskii gives Kitty way too many rude nickname opportunities. Plus, Australian accents are awesome."_

_Ryder began talking loudly in a poor Australian accent, "Do you like Koala bears?" Marley giggled, "I like Koala bears. Koala bears are awesome. I'm gonna go eat at the outback. Ooh, look what's on the menu! Kangaroo!" Marley burst out laughing at how horrible his accent was. He continued, "Okay, I'm going to go eat a kangaroo."_

_"That was terrible."_

_"I know, maybe you can ask Sam to do an Australian impersonation for you."_

_"Hmm, maybe."_

_Ryder chuckled and leaned down to kiss her temple, when suddenly, they both felt an ice cold splash hit them hard in the face._

_They had been slushied._

_"Have fun cleaning that up, Grease!" And with that, the group of jocks sauntered away._

Ryder thought solemnly of that incident before telling her, "If it makes you feel any better, I made sure to buy blue raspberry. I know it's your favorite."

Marley raised an eyebrow, "Am I not supposed to be creeped out by that?"

Ryder rolled his eyes, "I saw you lick your lips after that one time Jake slushied you with a blue raspberry slushy."

"I'm now officially totally creeped out."

But Marley couldn't help but admire that even when Ryder was preparing for a slushy-assassination mission, he still thought about her like that. Blue raspberry _was_ her favorite.

Ryder stood up from his seat and began to walk towards the stage, "Well, that was a nice little chat. Let's start singing."

Marley saw something fall out of the boys pocket. She bent down to pick it up as he stepped up onto the stage.

She turned to the Warbler and held up the box.

"Ryder, you dropped something."

* * *

I took the whole "favorite slushy flavor" thing from Puckleberry. C'mon, it's adorable.


	8. Last Christmas

"_Shit_," Ryder murmured, before snatching the box out of Marley's hand, "That's none of your business."

Marley crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow, "Is it for your _girlfriend_?"

She said this in a mocking tone, but Ryder thought he could hear a hint if jealousy in her voice.

"I don't have a girlfriend. Just drop it."

"I just want to know who that box of jewelry was for," Marley said innocently, a sweet smile gracing her face.

"No." Ryder's face was beginning to turn red.

"Well, you leave me no choice."

"Wha-?"

Marley stealthily reached forward and quickly swiped the box from Ryder's grasp.

"HEY! MARLEY! Don't open it!"

Marley smirked, "I'm opening it..." She began to pry open the box.

"I'm serious! Don't..."

It was too late. Marley already had the box wide open. She read the note. Ryder watched as her eyes widened.

Marley could hear her heart beating loud in her chest, and her face was turning warm.

Ryder still loved her. It hadn't all been a lie.

She stared at the R charm, in awe.

"I got it for your back in October," Ryder said quietly, his head hung down in shame, "it's so you can hook it onto your necklace."

Marley took the charm out and placed it in her palm. She looked up to Ryder, "I can keep it?"

"I guess," Ryder mumbled to the ground, distraught, "It was for you anyway."

Marley gave him a concerned expression and began walking towards him, "Ryder, I'm sorry. I didn't know."

Ryder immediately flinched when Marley placed a hand on his arm. The brunette expression began to fill with hurt.

Ryder murmured, "Let's just go do this song."

Marley nodded and followed him onto the stage.

The brunette girl watched the boy, sideways from her microphone. He still loved her.

And she loved him too.

Ryder and Marley opened their mouths and sang the beginning in perfect harmony, beginning to draw a crowd to the stage.

_Both:_

_Last christmas_

_I gave you my heart (gave you my heart)_

_But the very next day you gave it away (gave it away)_

The pair stared straight ahead as they sang, unable to look at each other. Even so, the audience could easily feel the chemistry that they had.

_This year_

_To save me from tears_

_I'll give it to someone special (special)_

Ryder began in his clear voice, emotion being heard in every note he hit.

_Ryder:_

_Once bitten and twice shy_

_I keep my distance_

_But you still catch my eye_

Marley allowed herself to take a short side-glance, before snapping her head back to its original position. That one sentence _was _the story of them. No matter how hard they tried to avoid each other, they always seemed to be drawn to each other.

_It's like the universe is trying to tell me something, _Marley thought to herself, _no wonder why we always end up meeting each other again one way or another._

_Tell me baby_

_Do you recognize me?_

_Well, it's been a year_

_It doesn't surprise me_

_Marley:_

_Christmas,_

_Both:_

_I wrapped it up and sent it_

_Marley:_

_With a note saying_

_Both:_

_"I love you" __I meant it_

Marley held onto the microphone and it's stand as she sang. She closed her eyes as she sang the words, successfully delivering her feelings through song. She hadn't been able to do that for a while. Singing was her outlet.

_Marley:_

_Now I know what a fool I've been_

_But if you kissed me now_

_I know you'd fool me again_

Marley still remembered how it felt to kiss Ryder, and she couldn't help but hope that she would never forget. She still remembered how he could be so gentle, yet rough at the same time, like he knew that she was capable and strong. He didn't treat her like she was some kind of frail, fragile human being who could shatter in his hands at any second.

_Both:_

_Last christmas_

_I gave you my heart (gave you my heart)_

_But the very next day you gave it away (gave it away)_

_This year_

_To save me from tears_

_I'll give it to someone special (I'll give it someone special)_

Ryder began to wonder about Jake and Marley.

Was Jake Marley's "special someone"? Would they give each other cute Christmas gifts and kiss under mistletoe? Would they sit by the fire together and drink peppermint hot chocolate with marshmallows, like how he had done with Marley despite the fact that it had only been November when they had done that?

He hoped that Jake made Marley happy. Because Marley deserved a happy Christmas.

_No_, a voice in Ryder's head told him, _she doesn't deserve to be happy. She stole that gift out of your hands! Do you not know how rude that is?!_

Another voice in Ryder's mind replied, _It was her gift! She had every right to be curious. I would've done the same._

Ryder almost halted his singing so that he could plop down into the edge of the stage and bury his head into his hands (thankfully, he did not). Who was he kidding? He knew he wasn't mad at Marley. He was mad with himself.

_Last christmas_

_I gave you my heart_

_But the very next day you gave it away_

_This year_

_To save me from tears (save me from tears)_

_I'll give it to someone special (I'll give it someone special)_

_Marley:_

_A crowded room_

_Friends with tired eyes_

_I'm hiding from you_

_And your soul of ice_

_Ryder:_

_My god I thought you were_

_Someone to rely on (someone to rely on). Me?_

_Both:_

_I guess I was a shoulder to cry on_

Marley turned to glance at Ryder again, but this time, she caught him staring at her too. She took the chance to hold his gaze to sing the next part to him_._

_Marley:_

_A face on a lover with a fire in his heart_

_A man under cover but you tore me apart (ooh ohh)_

Ryder could see the emotions on her face. He felt the pain and guilt hit him hard for each word she sang. He realized that he, in fact, had really been a man undercover and that he had tore her apart.

_Now I've found a real love you'll never fool me again_

Ryder felt the pang of jealousy in his chest again. Jake could _not_ be her "real love".

_Both:_

_Last christmas_

_I gave you my heart (gave you my heart)_

They sang to each other with pained expressions on their faces. It really did hurt.

_But the very next day (very next day) you gave it away (you gave it away)_

_This year_

_To save me from tears_

_I'll give it to someone special_

They both took their microphones off their stands and began to take steps closer to each other, singing every word to each other.

_Last christmas_

_I gave you my heart_

_But the very next day you (you gave me away) gave it away_

_This year_

_To save me from tears_

_I'll give it to someone special (special)_

_Gave you my heart_

They concluded the song flawlessly and were rewarded with an erupting round of applause. But they didn't hear any of it. They were just standing there, microphones still clutched in their hands, staring at each other. Studying each other.

And they both couldn't help but get lost in each other's eyes. It was the best feeling in the world for both of them. It was like all of their worries and problems had just been erased. They felt light, yet no longer hollow or empty. Both of their hearts were beating loud. Marley could feel the tingles reach to her fingertips and her toes as she stared up into Ryder's brown eyes.

Marley couldn't help but notice that Ryder's eyes were a lighter shade than Jake's brown eyes. It was a nice change. His eyes seemed deeper, like there was more to him than what meets the eye, like he's hiding something.

And Ryder - he could never get sick of Marley's eyes. They were a vibrant color of ocean blue. There was a sparkle in them, and to Ryder, it was no surprise. Marley Rose was a star. Her blue eyes had this hint of mystery in them that has caused Ryder to fall for her in the first place. He wanted to figure her out. He still did.

The loud cheering of their audience seemed to wake them up out of their trance. They quickly left the stage and stayed in the small, secluded tent that was supposed to be their "backstage".

"You did a great job," Ryder complimented her, a bit unsure of what to say.

"You too. Thanks." She paused before adding quietly, "And thank you for the charm."

She hadn't put the charm on her necklace. Yet.

She stared at her hands sheepishly, before saying quietly again, "You weren't the only one who got gifts ahead of time."

Ryder raised an eyebrow as Marley reached into her purse and pulled out an old-fashioned tape.

"It's a mix-tape. For you." She took Ryder's hand and tucked it into his grasp.

They both felt their bodies fill with warmth at that slightest touch.

Ryder held the mix-tape up to his face. Marley had taped the list of songs on the back. Ryder realized that they were _their_ songs. The songs that he and Marley always turned on or sang or danced to when they were bored.

He couldn't help but grin, "Thank you."

They were close. And it didn't help with the fact that the tent was particularly small too.

Marley looked up to him, feeling unsure of what to do.

Suddenly, she notice something hanging from the bottom of the tent's roof.

Mistletoe.

She narrowed her eyes at it. Ryder turned his head up to see it too.

The two pairs of eyes met again.

They just stared at each other for a while, until Ryder began leaning in. And so did Marley. They were only centimeters apart when Ryder's senses finally caught up to him and he quickly pulled back, frantically disattaching themselves.

"I'm sorry-I, well-um, it's - you have a boyfriend." He said emotionlessly, though Marley could've sworn he sounded solemn.

Marley couldn't help but feel glum, "Yeah. Sorry."

There was an awkward silence for a while until Ryder coughed and asked; "Do you, um, need a ride home?" He looked out the tent, "It's dark out."

Marley nodded silently and they exited the tent.

* * *

On the way to the theme park's exit, they had to pass by the show choir who was performing.

"Hey," Ryder said, noticing the show choir, "those are the Aca-Aces."

"Great name." Marley said sarcastically.

So they were back to the old ways again.

"They're also a great group. They won their Sectionals, and I heard that their coach is Mariah Carey's uncle's cousin's mom's brother's friend's sister."

Marley rolled her eyes at the long description, "Impressive."

He ignored her, "They're the only other acapella group in the Midwest, besides the Warblers-"

"You mean the Whoreblers," Marley corrected.

"Says the person who's part of a show choir group called the Nude Erections."

Marley replied crossly, "_Used _to!"

"Anyway, my sister's college friend used to be a member."

"Of the Whoreblers, or the Nude Erections?"

"Of the Aca-Aces."

"Oh, interesting. Now can we get going now? My mom's making lasagna tonight."

"Hang on," Ryder squinted at the stage, before walking closer to the performance area.

Marley reluctantly followed him with a questioning look on her face, "Ryder, what the hell are you doing?"

"Hold on." His eyes were still glued to the stage.

Marley stayed silent for a moment, before asking, "Ryder, what the hell are you staring at?"

"Shut up!"

Marley pretended to be taken aback, "How dare you?!"

It was quiet again for a while, until Marley couldn't take it, "Seriously, what is it?"

Ryder grabbed her arm and dragged her next to him. He murmured to her, "You see that tall blonde who's singing lead?"

"Are you telling me you stood here like a statue for the past ten minutes to check out some tall blonde chick?"

"No. But do you see her?"

"Yes, Ryder, I'm not blind."

He slapped a hand to his forehead, obviously shocked, "I can't believe she's here."

Marley gave him an incredulous look, "Must I explain to you how the wonderful creature known as the human being is brought to life? Because I'd rather not explain it."

"Marley, that girl, she's not supposed to be there."

"How would you know? Please do not tell me that you were really a spy from the Aca-whatevers and that you were disguised as a Whorebler instead because you knew we had a soft spot for Dalton Academy students all along."

"Marley, you don't understand."

"Of course I wouldn't understand, you're not explaining!" Marley threw her hands up into the air, annoyed.

"Marley, that girl is in college. She's my sister's friend."

Marley let out a gasp.

"What? That's not possible. The Aca-idiots are a high school show choir group. When Tina made me read the rule book, it said that any Glee club with a college student in in it-"

Ryder finished for her, "-is not allowed allowed to compete."


End file.
